cherished mementos for impoverished people.
In the framed photograph, a woman with a beehive hairdo and sea-foam green dress wraps
her fleshy arms around a smiling toddler.
"That's my mom and me," said Laura Adams, pointing to the 5-by-7 photo on display in her
Costa Mesa living room. "She died when I was 10. That's the only photo I have of her. It's
meant so much to me."
The power of that single image gave the 37-year-old an idea during a church mission last
year to an AIDS-ravaged squatters camp in South Africa.
"The parents have no kind of legacy to give," said Adams, a full-time piano teacher and
part-time photographer. "With a photo, they have something to pass on to their children."
Africa. They passed out an additional 500 pictures.
"We brought toys, soccer balls and candy, but it was the photos that everyone
got so excited over," said Steve Wolford, a church volunteer who lived in
Africa for 15 years. "The beauty of Laura's vision is that the kids will have a
remembrance of their parents who are getting wiped out by AIDS.
"If you don't have a photo, how are you going to remember?"
success at churches and Christian groups, showing others a simple and
meaningful way to connect with the world's impoverished people.
"Most of the people we gave photos to in South Africa have never had a white
person in their home," Adams said. "It's significant in itself that they would
allow us to come in and pray for them."
Church volunteers said they eventually want to equip the villagers in South
Africa and elsewhere with digital cameras and printers so they can begin small
photography businesses or simply give away family portraits.
United States and tell their story, and I would have that
image forever," Adams said. "But they wouldn't have a copy
of it. It was very important for me to get them a photo too."
She said she was surprised at the "pure joy" expressed by
the South Africans when they were handed their photo.
"They'd just yell, turn around and run and show their friends,"
Adams said.
Reactions like those helped Adams realize that her
photography skills were not a trivial part of the mission, as
she first thought.
Los Angeles Times Staff Photographer
money - about $3,500 - from supporters to finance another trip to Kayamandi last November and plans to return next month.
Los Angeles Times Staff Photographer
